News and Features

Forbes partnered with Statista to compile their third annual list of “America’s Best Employers by State,” and Central Piedmont ranked #20 among North Carolina’s businesses. The findings are based on a survey conducted from October 2020 to June 2021, of 80,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 500 employees. View the complete list of honorees.

Central Piedmont is an attractive employment option for individuals seeking employment. The college is recognized as Mecklenburg County’s resource for academic excellence and cultural enrichment. In addition, it’s in close proximity to the Queen City’s robust public transportation system, professional sports arenas, and a number of premiere restaurant and shopping outlets that attract visitors from Mecklenburg County and beyond.

At present, close to 40,000 students call Central Piedmont home. With eight locations, it is one of the largest community colleges in the Carolinas and serves people of all ages who seek a real-world, affordable, hands-on education that will transform their lives and strengthen the economic, social, and cultural environment of Mecklenburg County.

To learn how to join the Central Piedmont family, visit the college’s Human Resources Web page.

The Central Piedmont Annual Report is ready to view online at cpccfoundation.org/annualreport.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-2021, the college continued to serve as the community’s college, providing the support services, courses, and career training its students needed to stay on track, within an environment that fostered a culture of care.

We are grateful for the continued support of our donors, industry partners, and friends who believe in our vision of providing learning experiences that transform lives and strengthen the local community.

Please enjoy this interactive reading experience, while learning more about our 2020-2021 accomplishments and celebrating our many successes with us through videos, photos, and more.

The Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Central Piedmont as a 2020 Tree Campus Higher Education institution. 

Tree Campus Higher Education, a national program launched by the Arbor Day Foundation in 2008, honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation.

To earn this distinction, Central Piedmont had to meet five core standards for effective campus forest management:

• Establish a tree advisory committee
• Show evidence of a campus tree-care plan
• Show dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program
• Observe Arbor Day
• Sponsor student service-learning projects

Congratulations to Central Piedmont’s Grounds and Site Coordinator Zachary Harris, and the college’s tree advisory committee, who have demonstrated the leadership and forethought needed to earn this national recognition. The college prides itself on using its tree canopies to not only keep its campuses cool, but also to create spaces that improve the physical and mental health of its many employees and students.

Learn more about the Arbor Day Foundation. 

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today announced that Dr. Tracie Clark, vice president of strategy and organization excellence, at Central Piedmont Community College, is one of 40 leaders selected for the 2021-22 class of the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship, a highly selective leadership program preparing the next generation of community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success.

The Rising Presidents Fellows will embark on the 10-month fellowship beginning in November 2021. Delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, the fellows will be mentored by esteemed current and former community college presidents who have achieved exceptional outcomes for students throughout their careers, and will learn strategies to improve student outcomes in and after college, lead internal change, and create strong external partnerships with K-12 schools, four-year colleges, employers, and other partners.

Clark has worked at Central Piedmont 21 years in a number of important leadership roles, including communications faculty member, chair of the inaugural Quality Enhancement Plan Development and Implementation Committee, special assistant to the president, chair of the Student Success Leadership Team, and currently as a vice president - strategy and organization excellence.

“To become institutions that truly advance social mobility and talent development, community colleges must have presidents with a clear vision for equitable student success,” said Monica Clark, director of leadership initiatives at the College Excellence Program. “We have selected these fellows because they share that commitment and are well-positioned to become transformational leaders.”

“I am excited and proud that Dr. Tracie Clark will be a 2021-22 Aspen Rising Presidents Fellow,” said Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer, Central Piedmont president. “Dr. Clark epitomizes all of the qualities the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship seeks. She has a been leader, motivator and chief strategist in Central Piedmont’s efforts to improve our student experience and achieve greater levels of student retention and success among all of our students.

“Her leadership has been and will continue to be crucial as Central Piedmont endeavors to build more paths of opportunity and economic mobility for students beginning their higher education journey, seeking skills to build a family-sustaining career, or obtaining additional credentials for career growth,” Deitemeyer added.

The Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship responds to the growing need for a new generation of leaders well-equipped to meet the challenges of the future. Nationally, nearly 80 percent of sitting presidents plan to retire in the next decade. While the traditional pathway to the presidency has often excluded women and people of color, the incoming class of Aspen Rising Presidents Fellows is composed of 68 percent women and 70 percent people of color, and represents institutions of varying sizes and locations.

Together, the 2021-22 fellows are leaders at colleges that collectively serve more than 400,000 students. As well, 67 Rising Presidents Fellowship alumni have become presidents of community colleges that collectively serve an additional 953,000 students nationwide.

The Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) has recognized Central Piedmont with its Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award. The award is presented as part of the CoARC's continued efforts to value the Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential as a standard of professional achievement.

To qualify for the award, Central Piedmont's respiratory therapy program had to meet the following criteria:

• have three or more years of outcome data
• hold accreditation without a progress report
• document RRT credentialing success of 90% or above
• meet or exceed CoARC thresholds for TMB high cut score and retention

Congratulations to the program's faculty, students, and alumni on this accomplishment!

Eleven Central Piedmont students joined thousands of university students, more than half of which matriculated from outside the United States, in the National Model United Nations (MUN) New York 2021 Conference.

Participating in this year’s conference were Central Piedmont students Aakriti Lakshmanan, Aiden Keith, Anthony Kabala, Ashley Braswell, Barbara Batista, Christelle Valentin, Davidson Valmyr, Gwen Thompson, Otisia Bryan, Richard Dougherty and Skyler McNeely.

The MUN Club represented the delegation of The Republic of El Salvador and discussed current global issues in a real-world context. The team performed well,  receiving the “Distinguished Delegation” Award for its great committee participation, remaining in character, and proper use of rules of procedure. In addition to receiving team honors, Aakriti Lakshmanan received the “Outstanding Position Paper in a Committee” award, as well as the “Outstanding Delegate in a Committee” award.

Central Piedmont’s Model UN Club is overseen by faculty advisors Teresa Hall and Camelia Taheri.

Congratulations to the following Central Piedmont students who joined a binational team of Iraqi students and placed second in the Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge, a project administered by IREX and funded by the Stevens Initiative, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. They are:

• John Dale Ardiosa
• Nancy Guerrero
• Aiden Keith
• Aakriti Lakshmanan
• Anny Leon
• Jenna Louis
• Devin McKillop
• Eslam Shaalia
• Gwen Thompson

The Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge is a virtual exchange initiative that supports workforce development in the U.S., Iraq, and Jordan. Community college students from the U.S. and university students from Iraq and Jordan team up to solve global challenges facing the business sector across industries.

The program improves global citizenship, strengthens problem-solving skills, and develops enduring connections, while enhancing students’ job skills through online collaboration.

The Central Piedmont/Iraqi team created the mobile app "planet eARTh," which provides awareness of the impact environmental damage can have on Charlotte and Sulaimani through local artwork. Explore their video pitch and business concept.

Kudos to Central Piedmont’s Camelia Taheri, discipline chair of Global Business, and Nadine Russell, director of Global Learning, who facilitated the team over the past eight weeks. 

Learn more about the Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge.

Learn more about global learning at Central Piedmont.

The dental assisting and dental hygiene programs at Central Piedmont Community College will undergo a comprehensive evaluation visit from Monday, April 5 through Wednesday, April 7, 2021 by a team representing the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

CODA is nationally recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the sole agency to accredit dental and dental-related education programs conducted at the post-secondary level.

Submit Comments by Sat., Feb. 6

Third parties, including faculty, students, program administrators, specialty and dental-related organizations, patients, and consumers are invited to submit comments. Signed or unsigned comments will be accepted. Names and/or signatures will be removed from comments prior to forwarding them to the program. All comments must pertain only to the standards relative to the particular program(s) being reviewed, or policies and procedures used in the accreditation process. A copy of the accreditation standards and/or the commission’s policy on third party comments may be obtained by contacting the commission at ada.org/en/coda.

Public comments must be received by Saturday, February 6, 2021 and submitted to:

Commission on Dental Accreditation
211 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice (TALTP), a peer-reviewed journal published by Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, is aimed toward instructors of American literature courses in four- and two-year universities and colleges.

The journal is currently accepting submissions for our fall 2020 and winter 2020 issues:

• Fall 2020 issue: Teaching Horror and the Weird in the American Literature Classroom, to be guest edited by Chris Brawley, author of "Nature and the Numinous in Mythopoeic Fantasy Literature."
• Winter 2020 issue: Teaching Western and Native American Literature, to be guest edited by Susan M. Stone, author of works on 19th-century regionalism, gender, and Native American literature and culture.

Learn more about Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice.

How do you go from just trying to get through life to fulfilling what you were born to do with your life?  WTVI PBS Charlotte General Manager Amy Burkett shares what she's learned over 30-plus years in leadership and broadcasting in her recently published book "The 7 D's to Your Destiny." 

Inside its pages, readers will learn how to immerse themselves in the 7 D’s to destiny and hone their talents, moving from ordinary to extraordinary while fulfilling their life’s purpose.

Burkett weaves her decades of learning and growing from New York Times Bestselling Author John Maxwell throughout the book’s pages, sharing the many tools readers will need to unlock their awesomeness and seize the destiny that is out there waiting on them.

“The 7 D’s to Your Destiny” is available on Amazon.com.